His reflection in the mirror vibrated softly as the shells whistled overhead. They were inconsequential however, it had already been determined that the war would end on a dual. Dressed smartly in his Commander's tunic, he looked into his own eyes and saw... what? How could he describe his eyes? The eyes that had witnessed a million deaths, and seemed destined to witness a million more. What possibly could occur tonight that he had not already seen? Nothing. There were no surprises tonight. He had never been bested on the final battlefield, and his wins often resembled victory marches rather than the epic clashes of two equals.

The first pin. Snapping smartly on his breast it recalled memories of youth, recklessness, and a feeling of immortality. He had destroyed THAT particular Overmind twice in his illustrious career.

The second pin. Much like the first, it had been against the Overmind, another aggressive Zerg who had been unable to withstand the inevitable. He had been wiser than before however, and the victory had been more controlled, more brutal.

The third pin. Gleaming, without the dullness of time characteristic of the other two, this last pin was the proof of his emergence from the dark times. There had been some who had first whispered, then proclaimed LOUDLY that his time was over. Others had risen and fallen in his absence. This third pin had silenced them all. Some of them would never speak again.

Looking scornfully at the other three pins on his shelf, he swept them aside and they went clattering into the darkness. Only the mouse remained, gleaming with its crimson richness. This, this was his alone. Turning on his heel, his cape rippling out behind him, he marched into the gloom ready to take his place on the battlefield. Above in the sky, a storm brewed.

sAviOr by Hot_Bid

Behind him, the swarm roared, as they had three times before, as they only do for royalty. This was their world, and will always be. His conquests had been decisive. His opponents, unworthy. Now, each passing victory comes and goes like the seasons: slow, but inexorable. Above the drone of his minions, he still yearned to be pushed to the limit, for the ultimate test, and thus he searched the sea and sky and for a true rival, one that roared just like he did, once, twice, thrice.

He hears the whispers of the other world, the human world, the one they called the superior world, ruled by their champion, their hope, their answer. Oh, him? He barely remembers him. Who would waste their breath and thoughts on the dead and vanquished?

But he heard the whispers, the doubts, the insolence, the disrespect. He will go to their world, he will be as he always was: decisive, and royal. He will win, and the swarm will roar behind him, and he will never hear those whispers again.

Is the Royal Road paved with human skulls? Will sAviOr hold both major titles and complete his domination? Or, will NaDa avenge his superfight humiliation, collect his fourth badge, break the OGN curse once and for all? Find out now

Game One: Longinus II

Longinus II is generally considered to be a map where zerg struggles. All season long people have said that the maps of this OSL favoured terran, and Longinus would guarantee a Terran champion. Then came savior. Like so many other truths held dear, sAviOr has disproved them all, downing opponents on Longinus with impressive displays of micro and tactics. Tonight was his biggest test as he faced the three time champion NaDa. Neither player failed to impress.

Opening at 3, sAviOr opened with his trademark three hatch build, which NaDa countered with an expansion after his first marine. Neatly blocked in behind his early structures, NaDa swiftly built up a strong defense against mutalisks and amassed a large bionic force. SaviOr tested his defense with early fliers, but was unable to do any damage due to some superbly placed MM and well spaced turrets. Left basically unmolested through the early game, NaDa was in a strong position as he moved out with his first assault force.

Genius defense stops sAviOr cold on the counter attack…

With NaDa passive initially, sAviOr had been able to expand to 12, taking the crucial double geyser expansion while teching to hive. As NaDa patrolled the middle of the map, sAviOr tried a quick counter with his depleted mutals and speedlings. Just as he entered the natural expansion of NaDa, firebats popped out of the defending bunker, leaving the mutalisks with no backup. Marines spent clip after clip into the air, hosing down the mutalisks in a lead shower. Having parried the first thrust, NaDa then went on the offensive, with his first tanks and vessels rolling off the assembly lines in addition to his fast +1 upgrades.

His first push at sAviOrs natural was stalled by a line of sunkens and a micro mistake that cost him his lone vessel. With his army positioned half way into the expo, one half of sAviOr’s army came from the back and the other came from the front, squeezing the human force. The results were predictable. Having lost little of his army, sAviOr also defended against an MM raid against his expo at 12. There was little time to savour this success however, as another massive army was rolling out of NaDa's main. Again sAviOr crushed it, this time incurring more casualties than before. Hastening to replace his losses, the commentators were incredulous to see a third army roll out. NaDa's hands machine gunned his keyboard, spawning legions of troops that sAviOr was forced to deflect. As well as NaDa was doing though, he had yet to do anything more than superficial damage. And, defilers were coming.

Two well placed lurkers rip up the raiding force of NaDa, ensuring a steady supply of gas…

With NaDa unable to kill the crucial two gas expo at twelve, nor able to break the defenses at the zerg natural, he set about expanding himself by taking the two gas expo at 6 as well as his mineral only. SaviOr had managed to secure the expansion at 11 as well, and continued to play defense while securing resources. Time and again terran armies took to the field, their heavy tank treads cutting deep swaths in the terrain and their massive ordinance blasting holes that would take a century to disappear. Against any other player they would have had their way, but against sAviOr they did not. The defilers cast about their pestilence, hurling up swarms of darkness and diseasing the very metal of NaDa's production.

NOT a platoon you want to be apart of…

With his initial resources running low, NaDa's defensive perimeter doubled, as he was forced to maintain a much greater area. Having defended for virtually the entire game, sAviOr now went on the offensive, striking where NaDa was weakest. His complacent overlords now became the deliverers of doom, dropping ultralisks and zerglings on the undefended and mineral rich plateau at 6. NaDa lifted, more than halving his income, and his Achilles heal was revealed. He could choose to either defend his expansions or attack those of sAviOr. He could not do both.

That defiler plagued, was irradiated, and then consumed twice to plague the remaining vessels. That micro was a difference maker…

Nearing end game, the human cause was desperate. Great hulking ultralisks had taken to the field, hatched by the benefit of a massive income. They trampled huge gaps in the terran lines, behind which an infinite number of zerglings ripped open those breaches. NaDa, being NaDa, did not take this lying down. His incredible macro ensured he continued to control an impressive field army, but behind the scenes his economy was running on fumes. With sAviOr possessing the other spawn spot, his economy was guaranteed. NaDa spent every last nickel on an army to take away these expansions, but the combined forces of defilers and ultralisks were simply too much for the infantry. SaviOr used calm and calculating precision to re-drop the terran expansion at 6, thus sealing the fate of NaDa. After an exhaustive 35 minutes of straight action, NaDa typed GG.

sAviOr 1:0 NaDa

Quite simply, sAviOr picked up where he left off in sAviOr/Iris game 5. This was perhaps the game of the tournament, with both players showcasing insane skills and endurance. NaDa's apm averaged out at 384 this game, and it showed in his incredible production. However, for all of his brute force, the tactics and spell casting of sAviOr was unparalleled.

Game Two: Arkanoid

Does sAviOr lose here? Not very often. While the occasional timing rush takes him by surprise, anything approaching mid-game generally belongs to him. Already reeling from a first game defeat, NaDa knew this his tournament rested on this game.

The players opened in cross positions, with sAviOr at one and NaDa at seven. SaviOr decided against his normal fast hatcheries, opting instead for an early pool and speedlings in an effort to counter a fast CC. He got his wish as NaDa dropped another command center beside the pulsating chrysalides before starting his own barracks.

SaviOr started the slow process of tearing down buildings in order to gain purchase into the map. His overlords had yet failed to find NaDa as they drifted silently over the terrain, and so he had to guess. He guessed wrong, heading to eleven, and wasted precious seconds before realizing his mistake. As he took his expansion, his zerglings finally headed to the right direction and began attacking the temple outside the zerg main. NaDa, perhaps panicking, send an entire group of scv to the front to mach with his few marines. Regardless of the numbers, it forced sAviOr to back off and try and find another entry point.

NaDa conscripts some unwilling scv… ALL of his scv… to defend the choke.

With his base secure, his economy booming, and his conscripts being issued glauss rifles at a record rate, NaDa said thank you very much to sAviOr for clearing such a nice path for him. His bionic army marched straight up the path sAviOr had made moments before, and catching sAviOr with sunkens not yet morphed, committed genocide at eleven o'clock. In a blink, it was a bo3.

sAviOr’s timing was off, and NaDa made him pay…

NaDa 1:1 sAviOr

sAviOr's build suffered from some indecision, and his usually spot-on timing failed him as NaDa stimmed his way to victory. Speaking of stim, NaDa clocked in at 400+ apm. Sick.

Game Three: Reverse Temple

Reverse Temple is yet another map reviled by zerg artists and gloried over by the confederates. SaviOr has publicly stated that this map was the most difficult for zerg players, and many speculated that he would execute some cheese on this map. However, he had faith in his style, as he opened with three hatcheries and NaDa countered, again, with a fast expansion.

While in the first game NaDa was able to defend against mutalisks perfectly, it was not so in this game. The ramp on Reverse Temple made it awkward to send troops from main to nat, and his turrets were not as effectively placed. As NaDa again patrolled the middle of the map massing his army, sAviOr harassed him relentlessly with mutalisks. His scv were forced to scatter numerous times, the mortality rate of miners reaching sickening heights. This time allowed sAviOr to spread his creep influence to the south, taking six o'clock and defending with lurkers.

sAviOr was relentless with his harass this game, forcing NaDa into a rash decision…

With his economy limping along, NaDa scanned the zerg base. No surprises. Defilers were on the way. Knowing it was now or never, the entire terran army picked up and moved out, leaving the main base to be decimated by muta fire. In an all or nothing move, NaDa looked to blast apart the zerg defenses while saving his main back home with new troops. Then, disaster. In an unbelievable counter, sAviOr sent his remaining mutalisks and a handful of lings to the terran base and destroyed the comstat. Three lurkers buried themselves beneath the earth and rose out into the sun through the abdomens of the blind marines. In a tremendous blunder by NaDa, and in one of the greatest moves all time in an OSL finals by sAviOr, the doomsday army was thus impaled. Forced to run back, NaDa turtled in his main, and looked out over the ramparts at the death which awaited him.

NaDa’s army was in the dark, as a lack of scan at home cost him his army for no gain…

With his opponent gutted of all strength, there was nothing left for sAviOr to do but attack. But... he waited. In the gloom a rare scream echoed across the plain, and his forces were joined by a queen. The battle commenced and NaDa was no match. SaviOr destroyed he defenses, and then infested his command center. With that final insult, NaDa typed GG, a dispirited and broken player.

The humiliation was thick on this victory, with an infested command center sealing the deal…

sAviOr 2:1 NaDa

On the most difficult map, sAviOr showed his greatest brilliance. NaDa stood not a chance this game, his brute force tactics seeming weaker as the series went on.

Game Four: Hitchhiker

On the verge of history, you wouldn't know it looking at the maestro's face. Calm, cool, and collected, he entered the fourth game far earlier than NaDa. Get on with it, his mute face seemed to read. And so they did.

In the one thousand, three hundred and forty second game of OSL history, two titans met on a field. One was dark, brooding, and sublime with skill. The other was a great man, a well decorated man, but a man gasping for breath, knowing he must reach within himself for greater things. There they met on a field, like so many had done before. And they battled.

NaDa took the bottom right and quickly had a barracks up. Both players quickly expanded, sAviOr taking both his natural and mineral only. With their front yards so close, sAviOr tried to stop the CC with a ling raid, but was halted by the first few marines and some brave scv.

NaDa’s defense stayed strong at the beginning…

Being quickly aggressive, NaDa came north with those marines and scv, looking to land an early counterpunch. NaDa got a bunker up, but it was out of range of the expansion hatchery. He was unable to continue the attack, and once sAviOr's lings received their leg upgrades, they quickly ran over the meager MM defenses. Although NaDa had finished his expansion, he was at the mercy of the zerglings which now ran relentlessly around his base.

…but failed miserably later on…

It was, as they say the beginning of the end. NaDa spent considerable time clearing his main and every second gave sAviOr more time to amass his mutalisks. The harassment commenced. Marines, firebats, scv... nothing was safe from the ever watching attack of sAviOr. Any gap in the defense and any micro mis-step was punished. By the time NaDa had enough of an army to attack, sAviOr had finished his hive and taken another expansion at 1 o'clock.

As it was before, the game became a matter of timing. With the narrow confines of Hitchhikers middle alley, NaDa was going to have to make his move soon. Knowing this, sAviOr started making sunkens, one at a time, down the trench. Each one represented a barrier which NaDa would have to stop at, buying the zerg even more time. As the mutalisks continued their aerial pestilence, NaDa went, his fate wrapped up in a handful of tanks and a platoon of marines.

In the end, sAviOr made NaDa wade through mountains of defense…

As his troops slowly chewed through the zerg defense, sAviOr took his entire army around the side of the map and into the terran main. His army was relentless, quickly ravaging the base and bringing it to ruin. NaDa's sole hope relied on his last army, fighting to make their way through a dark swarm and into the zerg main. However, they were unable to find purchase, and were worn down by a constant stream of zerg fodder. With his base in ruins, NaDa gazed at the burning screen. It was over, and a new champion was crowned.

sAviOr 3:1 NaDa

Here he is, the OSL, MSL, Superfight champion. Mae Jae Yoon.

He is the most dominant force in progaming today. he plays a race that, until recently, lagged significantly in major league wins. However, Mae Jae Yoon is single-handedly putting zerg on the pinnacle of professional gaming. He is, quite simply, the most visionary player of his time. There is no better way to exemplify this fact than looking at his dismantling of the most accomplished player of all time. SaviOr now holds both major titles, and has accumulated the most lucrative year of winnings in history. I can go on and on, but all you need to know now is that sAviOr is your new OSL champion.

See that pin there? How many is he going to end up with?

At this time I would like to take this space to thank some people for this season’s hard work. I believe our coverage this season was great in the face of a heavy workload and difficulties. My partner in writing, ManaBlue worked all season and did not ever get to enjoy writing the finals. GrandInquisitor created one of the best threads ever on TeamLiquid, ensuring that anyone wanting to look up the history of the tournament will have a masters access. The VOD uploader, Kennigit, Haji, Live2Win, rinizim, Cadical, and anyone else who I forgot… great job. You bring these games to life.

For those people enriching the coverage with great opening posts in the live report threads; thank you. You are an example of quality posting to all new posters. People like Hot_Bid and KizZBG have found niches in our community and contributed so well.

And you, dear reader, your continued interest in BW helps make everything tick. I hope you have enjoyed this tournament, and continue to enjoy BW for years to come.

On a personal note, after four years of writing for this site, this will be my last report. No, I am not going anywhere, but I am simply unable to do this job to the level of which I am accustomed to. The schedule no longer fits mine, and I intend to devote myself to a new TeamLiquid project, something I can call my own. I hope over the past four years I have been able to illuminate and share this strange and fascinating culture, and that you have enjoyed reading. I have done my best, and I know you will support whomever follows in my footsteps.

great report crazy finals i thought it'd be closer and more tense than what it was though...... slightly disappointed, but i'm happy savior won! ZERGS FIGHTINGG! gogoog

Graphicssavior[gm] : What is a “yawn” rape ;; Masumune - It was the year of the pig for those fucking defilers. Chill - A clinic you say? okum: SC without Korean yelling is like porn without sex. konamix: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

As for game 3 and that comsat thing, the commentators dont know what the hell they are saying. BOTH comsats were INTACT, so we can assume that they were out of energy.

BUT, I dont think that Nada saw those 3 lurkers, heck, he didnt even move that army for like 4-5 seconds, which is totatally unacceptable for Nada, particularly in OSL final. This only showed that even with superior apm Nada couldnt multitask better than Savior.